Video Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to REAL Science Challenge, I’m Kent Lui, REAL Science teacher.

March 8, 2021 is International Women’s Day. Today, we breakdown
Why women are more likely than men to have side effects from medication
and we tell you what you can do to make your world a better place.

Download our free worksheet for this episode from realsciencechallenge.com to help you keep up.

Let’s get going, this is REAL Science Challenge.

Intro

Imagine a sleeping pill that people take to help them sleep. Now, imagine this pill is given to 100 men, and, out of 100 men, 3 of them develop side effects. When the pill is given to 100 women, 15 out of 100 women develop side effects. So, this medication causes 5 times more women than men to experience side effects. This was the case for the drug zolpidem, also known as ambien, which caused some individuals to wake up feeling extremely drowsy and, according to one study, caused more women to get into traffic accidents.

Women are different from men. That is obvious. Besides physical differences, women also face social differences: being paid less for the same work, being less represented at higher positions of power, and, this past year, being more greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, the need for International Women’s day to highlight the things we need to do in order to make sure our world is equal towards women.

In science, the inequality exists too – and not just in awards and academic positions. For example,

The thing that makes me go hmmm…is why a drug like ambien, which has already been scientifically tested and government approved, could be more dangerous for women as opposed to men?

Illustrate your science

Take a few minutes and come up with 2 explanations for this phenomenon. Link your explanations to some of the science you already know. Discuss with your partner. But don’t do an internet search. Tell me what you’re thinking, not what Google is thinking. Draw out and label your ideas under the Illustrate Your Science Section of our worksheet. Set your timers for 3 minutes. Pause the video. Then come back afterwards when time is up. Ready? Begin.

Welcome back! Now, the big reveal: …?

Answer

It comes down to underrepresentation. Say that word with me, underrepresentation. Typically, when a drug is being tested, researchers want to study how a drug works in the real world. Therefore, we would need to test the drug with a sample of people that represented the real world – a sample that included people from both sexes and various backgrounds and ethnicities. Many medications that were approved for use in the United States before 1993, however, did not include as many women than men in their trials. In a recent report, 86 medications were found to have a sex bias with most biases affecting women more than men. So, although a drug may have been approved for use, researchers did not truly understand the side effects these drugs had on women because women were under represented in the clinical trials.
In 1993, the US Congress passed a law called the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act, which states that women and people of color have to be included in government-funded clinical research. However, according to one article that looked into medical research from 1993-2018, there was still underrepresentation of women in research pertaining to cardiovascular disease, hepatitis, HIV, chronic kidney disease, and digestive disease.

Let’s make some connections between what you just learned and what you may already know. Now, consider women’s health, equal representation, and medication. What does it make you think about? For example, what i just learned made me think about this thing i did in math class because…give your explanation. Write out your ideas under “Connection Corner” of our worksheet and follow the prompts to get you started.

Wrap Up

Let’s wrap up this up, people, with some direct messages from me to you to make this world a better place.

First, yes, we need to have an equal representation of women in clinical drug trials. But, more importantly, we need to have an equal representation of women who are leading or advising medical research studies. Who better to address women’s health than women themselves? So, it’s important to include women at all levels of research.

Second, change the world by geeking out. Do a deep dive into questions that may change the world. Who knows? Maybe, you’ll develop a system that can address women’s inequality in research. It all starts by asking a question. So, what makes you go hmmm about women’s health, men’s health, and research? And, what do you want to study next? Follow the templates under Question Composition on our worksheet to help you started.

Thanks for watching REAL Science Challenge. We have more resources connected . Also, please subscribe to our channel by clicking the red button below.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep4 – More Women. Better Science.

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